I would like you to meet..

my 2 new arrivals...
luce (the dark one) & honey (lighter one with red eyes)
they are my new russian dwarf hamsters, izzy loves them everytime one of them are out izzy goes to the cage and says hi its really cute..

AAwww, they are very cute!

I have to admit, I'm one of the rare people who's never had a hampster as a pet (even as a kid 🙁 )

I hope Izzie had lots of fun with her new friends 😍

thanks i know there not as exciting as puppies & kittens but im not allowed either of those in the place im currently renting otherwise id have a doggie 😀

I've always had dogs growing up then cats as an adult but always wanted a hampster when I was a kid, my dad didn't like them so we couldn't have one 🙁 same reason we didn't have cats growing up.

I can bet they are easier then a puppy! but you'll get your puppy someday when the time is right 😀

i was never allowed hamsters as a kid so when i was 18 i went out and brought one and my parents couldnt do jack.. he died 10 months later (i was very upset as he was my fave he used to sit on my shoulder as i walked around the house and he knew when i was due home from cos my mum sd hed come out as i was pulling on the drive and looking around)

my ex then braught me 2 for my 21st bday one died again 11 months later and the other one made it nearly 2 years and died last sept

i cant wait to get my puppy i want to get a labrador (as im not allowed my dog of choice with izzy my family have all said im not allowed to get it until she older 😢 only cos a few of them have a reputation)

We have a black lab/golden retriever mix who is about 2 1/2 years old. She is the best with Aaralyn... very sweet and very tolerant, the other 2 dogs are tolerant of her but Sophie (the lab mix) follows her around and likes to play with her more than Barkley and Cory (who are both much older too)

Just curious, what was your dog of choice? or did you mean that a lab was?

this is going to cause alot of controversy amongst some members but i have a soft spot for roitweillers 😍 i think if they are braught up rite they are perfectly safe (i known people who had them throughout my childhood and never had a problem with them as long as you treat them with a bit of respect)

I had a feeling it was going to be rotties or pit bulls... and my opinion is that both breeds can be very sweet and loving family pets if they've been raised from puppies in a loving environment. I've known many of both breeds and when in the wrong hands the poor dogs get mistreated or fought and they become mean or if they are bred to be mean (meaning people breed 2 mean dogs to carry on that trait) otherwise I'm a fan of both breeds. I was also in pit bull rescue for about 2 years and can see both sides of the coin with pits because I've seen the sweet ones and I've seen the ones who were not so sweet... bottom line is humans have turned mean dogs into mean dogs.

Sorry for my rant... I just wanted to let you know i stand by you being a fan of rotties and I don't think anyone's gonna knock you for that here 🙂 If you ever do decide to get one just make sure you know the dog's parentage if you buy from a reputible breeder or if you adopt one just make sure you know that dog's history if it isn't a puppy.

yeah definately i just think they get so much bad press and if look at the cases 95% of times an attack has been reported with one of those dogs involved the dog has been involved in similair incidences maybe not actually making contact but why wasnt something done to retrain/or use of suitable restraining equipment on the dog then and prevent a person/child getting mauled and maybe killed or the dogs have been trained guarddogs so its drummed into them to attack.

I also think that maybe in some of the instances the dog may have been wound up which is why i always believe you should drum it into your children not to go upto to strange dogs and pull their ears or something but to always ask the owner if its a friendly dog and if you can stroke it (thats how i was always braught up)

sometimes yes its completely the dogs fault ill admit that and im not going to defend them to the hilt as you said its in the genes from the way their parents are etc.

but how many people have been bitten/attacked by smaller "safe" dogs and its never reported or broadcasted the way it is when one of the "dangerous" dogs attacks.

Everything you just said is sooooo true. I fostered a pit mix for about 1 1/2 years. I got her when she was about 3 months old, she was taken away from her mom with out proper weaning at 3 weeks old, placed in a situation with a 3 year old boy who was never supervised around her and used to toss her about like a stuffed animal (I know this because I got her from these people and they lived in an apartment above me at the time) she started growling at their son and they were going to take her to the pound (where being part pit chances were that she would have been euthanized right away) I decided to take and foster her until I could find a suitable home for her. As it turned out I had her until she was about a year and half. She first became aggressive with my other dogs and I had to keep her separate from them. When she was getting close to 1 1/2 years old she started showing unprovoked aggression toward other people, then it became toward me. At that point I knew I couldn't place her in another home because of the aggresiveness. I had a friend who was a dog behaviourist spend 2 weeks with her and came to the conclusion that it was something innate in her that caused her to be aggressive (may have had to do with the age she was when taken away from the mom dog because they learn socialization from the moms and the other puppies in the litter), she said no training could change that about her. I unfortunately had to make the decision to have her put to sleep. I could not keep her locked in a crate 24/7 away from human contact but she could not be trusted around anyone. It was a very hard decision for me still 🙁 ... again, a big rambling from me on this but my whole point being that it's sometimes the breed but there can be other factors that play into a dog being mean even improper weaning. So again, just choose widely and after lots of consideration when picking a family dog.

I am soooooooo sorry this post got so long... just a subject that's close to my heart.

aww first of all 😘 s for tammy as its always very sad when you have to put a dog or any pet to sleep even if you know in your head and heart its the right decision to make.

i also agree with you in that alot of things have to been taken into consideration when getting a dog whether you have a family or you are by yourself and a dog should definately not just be judged on whether its seen as a safe or a dangerous dog

i just hope yours last longer than mine did! i was standing up holding him about put him back in his cage and he jumped! fell to the floor!! he seemed ok so i put him back in his cage... came to him the next morning he was dead!! 😲 wed had him 3 days!! oops!!

edited to add...

i wasnt a kid either... this was in the summer just gone!! pmsl!!

im also a mad rotti lover!! my friend has got a gorgeous rotti called Duke! and hes absolutely fantasic with her kids (aged 5 & 3).hes protective of the family but also knows when to protect.

like whats already been said, a dog only turns out the way you want it to. Dogs dont attak kids cuz theyre nasty, some just feel intimidated - everyone knows never to make eye contact with a dog - to them its threatening. a child is at complete eye level with a dog, the dog feels the kids are squaring up to them and sometimes this can end in horrendous ways. the first 14wks are vital to a dogs temperment program and depending on the time and patience you have for a dog, depends on just how well the dog will turn out.At the end of the day, dogs are like children - theyre consantly soaking in new things like a sponge in their early months,exactly the same way as a kid would.kids are what their parents make em and so are doggies!

The hamsters are sooo cute, my old school friend had a russian dwarf hamster and he lived about 3 years! Which is quite good for a hamster apparently.

I know what you are saying about the dog thing. When we first got Roxie, dh used to pull the bowl around while she ate, having never had a dog before, I told him off the first time he did it and told him to stop tormenting her. He said that he was doing it to stop her getting possesive over her food and going for people. Roxie is fantastic with the kids, George pulls her ears and fur, lays on her and she gets on with it. We do teach the kids to be gentle, if George is rough, we tell him 'nicely' and show him how to stroke her properly. I'm not one to say she won't ever bite, because one day she may do. She once snapped at me while I was checking out an ear infection, she knew she had done wrong and submitted almost as soon as she had done it, but dogs get old and lose their hearing etc. When we first got Roxie, she was only 5 weeks old and not properly weaned, the people we got her off, well I was worried that the guy would dump them in the canal if they didn't find a home 🙁 They were going on holiday the day after and basically said we had her then or they would be gone. Fortunately the mum and other pups were taken by a farmer to work on a farm, just in the nick of time I think.

awwwwwwwwww theyre so sweet

thanks honey today bit my finger as izzy and i were putting sum food into their bowl.. 😛

im glad to see other parents see my view of the dog thing i know it can be quite a controversial subject